The performances of Udta Punjab are equally brilliant. Shahid and Alia anyway play characters with unique quirks. There is a lot to play with and they both do a decent job.
It’s funny how dumb Alia jokes went viral where as she is the brightest, the smartest girl amongst the young crop of actors. Her film choices are proof enough of her intelligence. It takes a great deal of courage to pick a role like this and an equal deal of talent to pull it off. There is one particular scene where she reveals her story. I felt her pain. She is brilliant.
Kareena Kapoor Khan is efficient except strangely Geet fromJab We Met keeps popping up every now and then in an otherwise consistently good performance.
Diljit Dosanjh nails it in his debut. He gives such a balanced performance, feeling just the right amount of romance or grief, never dramatizing it, never overdoing it.
The second half, however, loses its focus, like most Hindi films, and starts addressing love stories. On one hand, it’s heartwarming to see human connections that can happen at most unlikely places but alas the film derails from what it set me up for. Also, Tommy’s change of heart, despite being reasoned out, looks too hurried and unconvincing. The fact that there is no media involved as Preet and Sartaj start investigating the drug racket is also jarring.
The ending of the film also feels a bit abrupt. But how else could a film end when the battle against drugs is still on? Imagine a state with its first line of control has one-third of its youth population addicted to substances. That’s more dangerous than terrorism.